Nicholas Young’s Rainforest Pottery and Richard Winter’s Arawak Leather will join 11 other particpants from 9 countries around the Caribbean in Jamaica on the Design Caribbean Stand at the Calabash Literary Festival.
Their participation will be made possible by Caribbean Export Development Agency (Caribbean Export).
According to a press release from Caribbean Export, the festival is being held from May 30 to June 1 and the Design Stand will showcase the work of some of the region’s finest craftsmen. It is to be a key standing feature of the festival, which is scheduled to take place at the picturesque Jake’s Hotel, Villas and Spa in Treasure Beach, St Elizabeth, Jamaica.
The release noted that the Calabash Literary Festival features some of the most prolific and revered writers from the Caribbean and around the world and has continuously provided an outlet for highly-skilled craftsmen and women to showcase and sell their products on a highly visible platform to its exponentially increasing audience.
The other Caribbean brands expected to be at the Design Stand are: Belzeb Incorporated from Grenada; Very Vanita and Avark from Barbados; Hands in Clay and Reve Jewellery and Accessories of Jamaica; Kay Expressions from Belize; St Lucian Designs by Nadia and Haitian Creations Dorees.
The release quoted Justine Henzell, producer of the Calabash International Literary Festival as saying: “We are thrilled not only by the invaluable support from and collaboration with Caribbean Export, but the opportunity to fully showcase regional artisans alongside local craft and fashion. The Design Caribbean pavilion will be a fitting addition to the globalishus offering at Calabash.”
Calabash has attracted this year such literary greats as Booker Prize winner Salman Rushdie, Jamaica Kincaid, Stephanie Saulter and Christopher John Farley among others, and it has coined the word globalishus to describe its creme of the creme international line-up.
The release said that Design Caribbean at Calabash provides an opportunity for the artisans to engage directly with their target audiences and allows for artists to be represented under one umbrella but to market themselves individually as brands. The consumer gains a comprehensive sense of the variety of offerings available in the region and the opportunity to delve more deeply into their particular areas of interest.
“The Caribbean’s artistes possess an overwhelming wealth of talent making it an extremely difficult deliberation process when we can only support a limited number. This particular staging of Design Caribbean provides the artisans with exposure to an international audience and also much welcomed media attention,” the release quoted Caribbean Export’s Execu-tive Director Pamela Coke-Hamilton as saying.
